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Indexen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015Tue, 31 Mar 2015 22:44:45 GMT2015-03-31T22:44:45Zen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015The Guardianhttp://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.pnghttp://www.theguardian.com
Scientists or politicians – who should you trust most?http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jan/13/jeff-forshaw-climate-change-science
Politicians should make an effort to understand how science works rather than dismissing its findings as mere opinion<p>In an editorial for the <em>New Statesman</em>, my colleague at the University of Manchester Brian Cox and comedian Robin Ince wrote that &quot;<a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/sci-tech/sci-tech/2012/12/brian-cox-and-robin-ince-politicians-must-not-elevate-mere-opinion-over-sc" title="">politicians must not elevate mere opinion over science</a>.&quot; They cited climate change, saying that it has become &quot;controversial for primarily non-scientific reasons&quot;, with the result that confidence in the very idea of science is undermined. This echoes the sentiments of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/david-nutt" title="">David Nutt</a>, the sacked government adviser on drugs, who was presumably letting off some steam when he said of ex-home secretary Jacqui Smith that<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9688040/Jacqui-Smith-admits-cannabis-reclassification-was-wrong.html" title=""> she, &quot;like most politicians, has the delusion that whatever they think is right. They lack all humility&quot;</a>.</p><p>Well, accusations that scientists are arrogant or, according to journalist Simon Jenkins, in the business of making <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/24/rees-makes-religion-out-of-science" title="">a religion out of science</a>, are not uncommon. For journalist <a href="http://brendanoneill.co.uk/" title="">Brendan O'Neill</a>, the scientific panel of &quot;know it all&quot; experts surrounding government is &quot;<a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/brendanoneill2/100190663/the-law-on-drugs-should-not-be-based-on-evidence/" title="">little different to the Guardian Council in Iran</a>&quot;. The key criticism appears to concern the issue of democracy and the notion of choice. In O'Neill's words, people should be &quot;fully free to make a choice, unencumbered by the hectorings of do-gooders&quot;. It is the removal of this choice by a scientific &quot;priesthood&quot; that Jenkins and O'Neill seem to find so repulsive.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jan/13/jeff-forshaw-climate-change-science">Continue reading...</a>ScienceClimate changeClimate changeClimate change scepticismBrian CoxHiggs bosonCernSun, 13 Jan 2013 00:04:07 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/jan/13/jeff-forshaw-climate-change-scienceStan Was/BBCRobin Ince and Brian Cox who warn: ‘Politicians must not elevate mere opinion over science’. Photograph: Stan Was/BBCBBCRobin Ince and Brian Cox. Photograph: BBCJeff Forshaw2013-01-13T00:04:07Z